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Seeding Venus
9 march 2024
Seeding Venus: Cyberflesh Monster
"Seeding Venus: Cyberflesh Monster" is a sculptural installation that merges the ancient with the contemporary to explore the evolving standards of femininity and beauty defined by generated AI cyberflesh monsters.The core of this project is a meticulously crafted upscaled 3D-printed replica of the iconic Venus of Willendorf, a symbol of fertility and womanhood that dates back to approximately 28,000-25,000 BCE. This ancient figure, renowned for its voluptuous form and exaggerated features, serves as a starting point to look through time and societal change. It represents an era when fertility was perhaps the paramount value attributed to femininity, a stark contrast to the multifaceted ways in which womanhood is understood and celebrated today.
Embedded within this modern recreation of the Venus figure is a small screen. This screen dynamically displays an ever-changing array of images: unique reinterpretation of the Venus figure generated by advanced AI algorithms based on donated bodyparts. These generative images are seeded with scanned body data, reflecting current perceptions, standards, and interpretations of femininity and beauty that are limited to the training data. Inviting viewers to witness an infinite procession of Venuses, each adaptation informed by modern cultural and societal inputs. The work shows the evolution from such singular representations, in current times playing with the still singular representations in datasets.
"Seeding Venus" is a dialogue between the viewer, the past and the present, a commentary on the permanence and plasticity of beauty standards. While the original Venus of Willendorf embodies a petrified image of womanhood, set in stone for millennia, the generative AI component underscores the fluidity and subjectivity of these standards as they morph through time. This contrast is a reminder that some ideals may seem as enduring as stone, our collective perceptions are continually being reshaped and redefined.
The conglomerate bodies created from the information donated in the installation give a reflection of the current state.
It challenges to consider the impact of technology on art and culture, and to engage with the ever-evolving narrative of what it means to embody femininity in cyberspace.
Test generations seeding Venus
Inspiration work: "Cyberflesh Girlmonster" (1995) a CD-ROM by Linda Dement
Donated body parts collected during Artists’ Week of the Adelaide Festival 1994 have been used to construct a computer based interactive work. About 30 women participated in the original event by scanning their chosen flesh and digitally recording a sentence or sound.
Conglomerate bodies were created from the information donated. These have been animated and made interactive. When a viewer clicks on one of these monsters, the words attached to that body part could be heard or seen, another monster may appear, a digital video could play, a story or medical information about the physical state described by the story, may be displayed. The user moves relatively blindly between these. There is no menu system or clear controllable interface.
The work is a macabre, comic representation of monstrous femininity from a feminist perspective that encompasses revenge, desire and violence.
http://www.lindadement.com/cyberflesh-girlmonster.htm